Youthful Marriage in Germany.

Otago Witness, Issue 3103, 3 September 1913, Page 67

Youthful Marriage in Germany.

A recent publication of the Imperial Bureau of Statistics in Germany gives some particulars concerning the age of parties who contracted marriage during the year 1910. The youngest bridegroom was only 15 years old ; but of youths a year older 16 were married and one was already a widower. Marriages at 17 years of age were much more numerous ; for there were 63 youths married at this age, of whom one was a widower. At the age of 18 marriage is by no means an exceptional condition, for 511 young men of 18 were married, six were widowers, and one was even divorced. As for the young women in Germany, the youngest brides are also aged 15. Sixty-four girls of that age were married in 1910; while there were 559 married women of 16 years, of whom 12 were widows, and one divorced. Fifteen men were over 100 years old ; 12 of whom were widowers, two bachelors, and one married with a wife still living. At the same time there w T ere 48 women over 100 years old; of whom 42 were widows, four old maids, and two married with husbands yet alive. In Germany, at least, it would seem that women marry curlier and live longer than the men.